US Bombers at Soviet Airfields: "Operation Titanic" (Operation Frantic) 1944 US Army Air Forces; World War II

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'On U.S. shuttle-bombing operations over Germany between bases in Great Britain, Italy, and Russia. Reel 1, B-17 planes bomb the French coast, B-24s bomb a German factory. B-17s are attacked by German fighters and some fall in flames; others fly on to land in Russia. An animated diagram shows advantages of using Russian airfields. Gens. Spaatz and Anderson plan "Operation Titanic" (the construction of airfields in Russia) at USAAF headquarters. Ships are loaded with supplies in British ports, the convoy passes through the Arctic, supplies are unloaded in Murmansk, Russia, and are transported by train to an airport site in central Russia. Reel 2, personnel of the U.S. 8th Air Force in Great Britain and of the 15th Air Force in Italy are briefed for the first shuttle bombing run to the new Russian airfields. Gen. Twining bids them farewell. B-17s, led by Gen. Eaker, take off. B-24s take off from Great Britain. P-51 and P-38 fighter planes escort the bombers on their way. The two bombing forces bomb targets in Germany, land in Russia, and are greeted by Gen. Ross. and Russian Gen. Seymenov. Reel 3, U.S. bombers land, crews disembark, and fraternize with Russian pilots. Officers interrogate the flyers on the mission. Russian and U.S. crewmen service the planes. Flyers eat at an outdoor kitchen, sleep in tents, and fall out for reveille. Col. Kepler and Russian officers confer on the next bombing mission. Crewmen of a bomber play baseball and cards, write letters home, milk a cow, and drive a jeep to visit war ruins. Shows Russian "Yak" fighters lined up on a field. Reel 4, Russians entertain Americans with folk songs and dances. Crews are briefed and planes take off. Reel 5, B-17 bombers take off from an airfield. Shows a montage of shots of bombing raids on Axis cities.'

Originally a public domain film from the National Archives, slightly cropped to remove uneven edges, with the aspect ratio corrected, and one-pass brightness-contrast-color correction & mild video noise reduction applied.

The soundtrack was also processed with volume normalization, noise reduction, clipping reduction, and/or equalization (the resulting sound, though not perfect, is far less noisy than the original).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Frantic

Wikipedia license: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

Operation Frantic was a series of seven shuttle bombing operations during World War II conducted by American aircraft based in Great Britain and southern Italy which then landed at three Soviet airfields in Ukraine. The operation ran between June and September, 1944...

American plans to use air bases in the USSR began as United States Army Air Forces (USAAF) staff studies soon after the German invasion on 22 June 1941...

At the Tehran Conference in late November 1943, President Franklin D. Roosevelt personally proposed the use of Soviet bases by American aircraft to Marshal Joseph Stalin...

The position papers given to Stalin emphasized both reconnaissance and bombardment operations, and Stalin agreed to proceed with the plan "in principle." American heavy bombers stationed in Britain and Italy would fly strike missions deep into the heart of Nazi territory or occupied Eastern Europe. Afterwards, they would land at American air bases in newly recovered Soviet territory, re-arm and re-fuel, and then attack other targets on their return flights.

Operation Frantic, originally known as Operation Baseball, was intended to permanently establish three heavy bomber groups in Soviet territory, but only a small contingent, about 1,300 men, was eventually detached to the American bases in the USSR.

During the four months of major operations, 24 targets in German-held territory, some never before within effective range of the American strategic bomber forces, were attacked.

While the shuttle bombing technique complicated German air defenses, in practice most targets were already coming in reach of US bomber streams from Italy and England. Soviet vetoing of some targets prevented more effective use of the bases.

The operations were reduced and finally discontinued due to a number of issues; a catastrophic German air attack on the bases in June; Soviet hostility and non-cooperation that started in August; and the inability of the Americans to receive permission to use the bases for support of the Warsaw Uprising, which soured relations between the two countries...